


Small World

by Diamond_of_the_Merthur



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cute, First Meetings, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mild Angst, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Pets, Sappy Ending, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Teacher Shiro, Unrequited Love, student Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 13:03:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12081585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diamond_of_the_Merthur/pseuds/Diamond_of_the_Merthur
Summary: Shiro's twenty-five, he's a grown man now and he's ready to find his soulmate, only if it wasn't so difficult.Keith's nineteen, fresh into university and instead of worrying about finding his soulmate, he's more worried about his cat who loves to climb on trees, ends up stuck, and refuses to come down until Keith physically climbs up to get her.





	Small World

**Author's Note:**

> Sup bitches, it's been a while, I know and I'm sorry.  
> Anyways, I was scrolling through tumble the other day and when I came across this post about how Shiro finds his partner AKA Keith and it was honestly the cutest thing ever that I had to write it.
> 
> I can't find the post anymore or else I would tag it :'(

“Darling please!” Keith pleaded looking up at the tree, Darling hissed at him and pressed further against the tree trunk, Keith groaned and looked around, it was an early Sunday morning, nobody was out, the sun was barely rising, just a few peeks of sunshine was emitting in the sky making the white clouds have a golden outline which stood out against the blue sky.

There was a small patch of fog that littered park floor and not even the birds were chirping, it was completely silent in the small park and Keith made the mistake of letting Darling have her morning walk.

“Darling!” Keith hissed with urgency, Darling paid no attention to him and just shuffled around carefully so her ass was facing him. Keith growled and jumped up to catch the lowest branch and slowly climbed up, luckily the tree had sturdy branches, unluckily Darling decided to climb up even higher.

“I swear to fucking god I will leave you out here for the crows to peck at you!” Keith hissed heaving himself up higher, Darling made a soft mew and Keith instantly regretting the threat, “I’m sorry baby but please listen to me and climb down,” Keith said softly.

Darling made no move to come down but she did stop climbing higher and waited patiently for her master to reach her.

Keith sighed in relief, he sat on one of the branches and reached up to scoop Darling of the higher branch and settled her on his thigh, she gave a soft meow and started purring loudly while blinking up at him.

Keith smiled and brought her up to kiss her velvet pink nose, “I will never leave you,” he promised, Darling chirped and licked the tip of Keith’s nose.

“Now, how to get down in the problem,” Keith murmured peering down, he gulped when he realized how high he climbed, his fingers shook and he pressed himself back against the tree while trying to calm his racing heart.

“You have outdone yourself now Darling,” Keith whispered laughing softly, Darling chirped in agreement and nestled herself happily on Keith’s lap as her owner tried to figure out a way down.

“Okay, Keith, think-think-think, do we just jump, I mean I would jump but Darling would get scared and I don’t have money to go to the hospital if I get injured even if I do have medical insurance,” Keith murmured.

Keith thought for a while and for a split second he thought he heard human murmuring so he leaned forward to hear better when he heard the branch beneath him crack, there was a small part of annoyance that went through him and another of fear.

_Shit,_

 Suddenly he was screaming as he plummeted down below, he gave a small grunt as he fell into a pair of strong arms, there was another deeper surprised grunt and two shocked screams.

Keith groaned and blinked his eyes opened, his nose twitched when a soft red leaf fell on his nose, he looked up with furrowed brows and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a pair of stormy gray eyes looking at him with surprise awe.

Oh, he was handsome, very handsome, strong chiseled jaw, almond shaped gray eyes that were still twinkling with awe, dark brows, his pink lips were parted also in shock.

“Hi,” the man said breathlessly, Keith felt his heart flutter and he his hands squeezed at the man’s shoulders.

“Hi,” Keith repeated just as breathlessly.

* * *

“Will you stop sulking, you can’t get your hopes up every time someone says ‘hi’ to you,” Matt said uncapping his water and chugging it down, he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and nodded when Allura agreed with him.

“Matt’s right, I mean it’s really not unusual to have such a basic word as your soulmate mark, I’m sure tons of other people have basic words,” Allura tried.

Shiro sighed and crossed his arms, “I-I don’t know guys, I’m already twenty-five, gonna be twenty-six in a few months, I haven’t even found my soulmate yet, it’s not fair,” he muttered.

“Bro chill, relax, slow down, I mean it’s not like the world’s ending just because you don’t have a soulmate,” Matt said grinning.

“I know, but I really want someone to hold, snuggle, and just show my affection too, I get lonely,” Shiro murmured, he glared over at Matt when he started fake gagging.

“I’m sure, you’ll find him or her,” Allura said. Shiro snorted and paused under a huge oak tree, Shiro held out his arms.

“What? You except my soulmate to fall straight into my arms,” Shiro said sarcastically, not even a second later there was scream above them and suddenly there was a full-grown male in his arms, Shiro staggered back from the sudden weight but held his ground.

 The tree leaves shook above them and most the dead leaves fluttered down on top of them. Shiro ignored Matt’s and Allura’s cry of shock and he stared down at the attractive man in his arms.

Said man groaned and wrinkled his nose as a red autumn leaf fluttered down from his head to his nose, he blinked his eyes opened and Shiro was met with the most ethereal set of eyes. Violet, complete violet that looked like the night sky, he had thick black brows, a small pointed nose, and small lips.

“Hi,” Shiro said breathlessly, he cursed himself for sounding like an idiot but his heart sped up when the person replied back, just as breathlessly.

“Hi,”

They heard a pitiful meow and they turned their attention to a long auburn haired cat hanging from a low branch.

“Darling!” the man grasped scrambling out of Shiro’s arm, he stumbled to his feet and quickly went to pluck the cat off the branch, he smiled as the man cooed at the cat, softly bopping her pink nose. The man looked up and there was a heavy blush on his cheeks and Shiro blamed the cold weather for his flushed cheeks.

“I-uh thank you,” the man said awkwardly and held out his hand, “I’m Keith,” he said, Shiro opened his mouth to respond but Matt quickly cut him off.

“This is Shiro, I’m Matt and our friend Allura, this might be the first time we saw a man with his cat falling into Shiro’s arm,” Matt said shaking Keith's hand and pushing up his circular glasses with a grin.

“I am grateful, I probably would’ve broken something if you hadn’t had caught me,” Keith said, Shiro laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, “what exactly were you doing up in a tree?” he asked.

Keith jerked his head over towards his cat—Darling—who was batting nestled happily in Keith’s in a pile of fur, “Darling likes to walk early morning, so long story short, she somehow got distracted on her walk and ended up in a tree, I followed up to get her down but then I got stuck,” Keith confessed, his ears turning a bright red from the confession.

“Then you fell and Shiro saved you,” Allura finished with a laugh, Keith laughed awkwardly as well taking a few steps back, “I should uh go, it’s getting late but uh thanks again, really,” Keith said.

“Uh yeah, no problem, I mean hey if you wanna fall out of more trees, then I’m your guy!” Shiro called then winced at the cringeworthy joke even Matt gave him a sympathetic look but Keith surprisingly laughed with flushed cheeks and smiled at him, “I’ll keep that in mind!” he called and turned around to head back to wherever he came from.

“He was cute,” Allura said.

“Got a nice ass,” Matt commented pushing up his glass.

Both Matt and Allura were right, he was cute and he did have a nice ass but it was useless now, he was long gone now.

“Come on, we gotta go,” Shiro said wrapping both of his arms around Allura and Matt, they both pouted and wrapped their own arms around Shiro’s waist.

“It’s okay if you don’t find a soulmate, at least you have us,” Matt said, Allura nodded and grinned.

“No thanks, I rather not get fifth wheeled buy you and your soulmates,” Shiro said, Allura laughed and used her other hand to pinch Shiro’s cheeks, “don’t worry, I bet he’s right around the corner,” she said with a smirk.

* * *

The guy was cute, very cute, also he had a nice ass, built with solid muscle, and tall. Keith frowned and twirled the marker between his fingers and thought about the guy from this morning.

“We have a customer,” Lance called, Keith perked up and gave a fake smile at the customer who just came in, luckily the customer didn’t give him much trouble, just a plain black coffee. Keith stretched to grab the cup from the side when his sleeves rolled up, Lance’s eyes widened and the cup he was playing with fell to the ground, his mouth parted in surprise and he glanced over at Keith who barely paid attention and just wrote down the order on the small cup and slid it over to Hunk who was already in the process of making the espresso.

“Tall black coffee!” Hunk called and smiled at the customer who gave him a timid smile back and headed over towards the back with his laptop.

“Keith my man, why didn’t you ever tell us!” Lance hissed inching away from his spot on the drive through window and glared at Keith who raised an eyebrow cluelessly.

Lance moved his eyes to Keith’s wrist and back up at Keith with wide eyes, Keith frowned and he pulled back his sleeve, his own eyes widened when he saw the bright letters on his wrist.

Whenever a person found their soulmate, the words would have a little sparkle to it, so currently the word “Hi,” sparkled like they had stars in them and besides the words was a small little crescent moon mark.

“Wha-?” Keith murmured and he peeked over at the older white man near the back, he said ‘hi’ but there was no way that man could be Keith’s soulmate, it wasn’t possible, there was no attraction and besides the guy looked like he was in the mid-forties, it wasn’t possible.

Lance followed Keith’s gaze and snorted, “it’s not him, don’t worry, Gary already has a soulmate,” he said waving his hand.

Hunk peeked over Keith’s shoulder and gave a low whistle, “must be difficult to find a soulmate with those words,” he said.

Keith sighed and pushed back down the sleeves and now thinking about, that area had been tingling all morning and maybe Keith thought it was the cause of the fall—the fall….

Keith’s snapped his head up and he cupped his hand over his mouth, “oh my god,” he whispered crouching down, Lance gave him a look and he looked around, grateful that it wasn’t grounded and knelt down beside Keith.

“So, uh you wanna tell us what this whole thing was about?” he asked. Keith cupped his flushed cheeks and nodded, “um so uh, this morning—”

“—Customers,” Hunk said moving away.

“Later,” Lance promised and got up before bouncing over to his station near the window, Keith got up and subconsciously rubbed the mark through his sweater and shifted on his feet, he gave a fake smile at the customers and his screen ready.

“Hello, can I get you?”

* * *

 

“So, technically you fell into your soulmates arms…just like that?” Lance said, Keith nodded and pulled his knees to his chest.

“Man, I wish I could fall into my soulmates arms like that,” Lance murmured rolling onto his back letting his head hang off the bed upside besides Keith’s who was sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the wall.

“Who’d you think your soulmate would be? A boy or girl?” Keith asked curiously, Lance shrugged or well shrugged the best he could while laying down.

“Don’t know, but I don’t think I’ll mind, I mean the only thing I care about it when I’ll find them,” Lance said and grinned, he lifted his arms high above his head and stared past them at the glow-in-the-dark stars on Keith’s ceilings.

“I still can’t believe you found your soulmate like that, lucky,” he said giggling, Keith smiled and grabbed a pillow to his chest, “he was really cute too,” Keith said.

“Really? Describe him,” Lance said turning over on his belly and listening carefully to Keith’s description with his eyes closed, Lance smiled softly and curled his fingers into the bed sheets, “he must be really handsome,” Lance murmured feeling the small ache in his chest.

Keith paused when he heard the crack in Lance’s voice, he looked over and was surprised to see the tears gathering in Lance’s eyes, he raised his hand hesitantly and Lance slowly closed his eyes and a single tear drop fell from his eyes and slid across the bridge of his nose and dropped down onto his bed sheet making a small wet spot.

Keith ran his fingers through Lance’s chocolate brown hair and leaned in close, “what happened?” he asked hesitantly.

Lance sniffled and quickly pulled away and sat up, he scrubbed his eyes and took a deep breath before plopping his hands on his lap, he shrugged and let out a small wet laugh, Keith waited for Lance to explain.

“I’ve known Hunk for many years and when my soulmate mark showed up when hit puberty, I was so ecstatic, I had a gut feeling that it would be him but—but it wasn’t him, it wasn’t Hunk and I accepted that but throughout the years, I ended up falling for him, I don’t know why I fell for Hunk but I did and he told me—the other day he told me, that he already found his soulmate,” Lance said and laughed and then his eyes turned dark and his lips curled in a snarl.

“She’s so fucking ugly! Her family owns a jewelry shop down the street and Hunk went in last week to get a gift for his mom and he found her,”

Keith frowned and he curled his fingers on the sheets, “is she really ugly?” he asked softly.

Lance paused and softly shook his head, “No, she’s actually really pretty, very sweet, she’s  _perfect_ for him, I didn’t even have a chance,” Lance said softly.

Keith bit his lip, it was awkward and he had no idea how to handle a stressed and obviously upset looking Lance but he did what he could and climb on the bed with Lance and patted his thighs awkwardly.

Lance snorted but laid down and rested his head on Keith’s lap and sighed, “thanks, buddy,” he murmured closing his eyes while Keith ran his fingers through Lance’s hair.

“You’ll be okay, it’ll take some time but you’ll be okay,” he murmured leaning back on his hands, he stayed there until Lance fell asleep and slowly eased himself from under Lance’s head and adjusted him so he was laying correctly on the bed before leaving the room.

Darling was already waiting for Keith near his food bowl, she stood up and meowed, Keith smiled and grabbed a food can and poured it her bowl for her before tossing the can in the trash bin, he washed his hands and packed up the leftover dinner in his fridge.

Darling was done by the time Keith was done packing and she was lounging in her bed, purring happily. Keith walked over and petted her body, she chirped and rolled over onto his back and meowed at him.

“Hopefully he’ll be there in the morning,” Keith murmured kissing her little forehead and headed into his room to sleep.

* * *

“Class dismissed,” Shiro said closing his laptop before stuffing it in his brief case, he waited for the last student to leave before the locking the door and headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. It was stressful being a teacher and he was lucky he got this job right after he graduated or else he would be probably working at a crappy retail job.

While in line for burgers, he uncuffed his sleeves and folded up his sleeves. The line moved up and Shiro grabbed a plastic plate and poured a heaping full of mac-and-cheese on his tray, he grabbed one of the plastic tubs of chicken soup and held out his tray for the cheese burgers, the lunch lady paused and smiled at him.

“Congrats,” she said, Shiro gave her a weird look but smiled at her awkwardly, “thanks,” he said and moved out of the line to sit at an empty table.

Shiro dug his plastic fork in his mac-and-cheese and was about to pop it in his mouth when he froze, his eyes fixated on the two-letter word on his arm, it was sparkling like glitter and three small stars were near the corner of the word twinkling up at him.

Shiro quickly scrambled up and jogged out of the cafeteria, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to his afternoon class about it being canceled and sped over to Matt’s house.

Shiro parked his car in the driveway and quickly jogged up the steps and pounded on the door, he waited impatiently outside while tapping his foot nervously, Shiro tsked and pounded at the door again with his fist.

Matt opened the door a second later with his bleary eyes and still in his pajamas, “what the actual fuck-gah!”

Shiro grabbed Matt by the shoulders and pulled him close, “I fucking found my soulmate!” he shouted with a grin, Matt blinked then gave Shiro a deadpanned look, “bro it’s twelve in the fucking morning, you could’ve waited till the afternoon to tell me,” he demanded.

Shiro snorted and released Matt before rushing inside, Allura was asleep on the couch with a half-eaten bowl of popcorn in front of her, Shiro popped a few stale popcorn in his mouth and grinned.

“It was the guy from this morning! It has to be! I mean it’s the only new person I met today and yeah there was that janitor but never mind that, I found my soulmate and oh my god he's attractive! Like he was so beautiful and his eyes!”

Matt groaned and rubbed his temples, “bro please, I’m honestly so happy for you but please, I have a massive headache, Allura had me playing  _guitar hero_  all morning and I’m so tired,” he murmured.

Shiro pouted and Matt sighed before sitting down on the recliner beside him, “so, what’re you going to do about it?” he asked.

Shiro frowned and tapped his chin, “Ya, that’s true, I didn’t even get his number but he did say something about walking his cat early morning so I guess that’s a start,” Shiro said thoughtfully.

Matt nodded, he got up and trudged up the stairs, “give me a few hours then tell me everything again, I’ll show more emotion then!” he called.

Shiro sighed then perked up, he turned to Allura and shook her awake, “I found my soulmate!” he shouted but all he got was a death glare and threat to be kicked in the balls, Shiro backed away slowly and waited patiently on the recliner waiting for Matt to wake up along with Allura while humming happily.

* * *

 

“Do you think he’ll show up?” Keith asked setting Darling on the floor, she scurried through the green grass for bugs while Keith leaned against the huge oak tree, he pulled the sleeves of his sweater past his fingers and blew into them while hopping from one foot to the other to keep his feet from freezing up, he was such in a hurry that he forgot to grab a jacket or even wear leg warmers.

Keith had only worn his black joggers, his red college sweater, gloves, and his hat. It was freezing outside, Keith glanced over at Darling who was happily dashing through the morning dew while wearing her kitty sweater, Keith was envious.

Keith leaned his head against the tree and closed his eyes for a bit, he needed to relax, he was so nervous, he had never been this nervous since the time he worried about walking on his high school graduation.

Keith twitched when he heard the faint crunching of leaves, he quickly opened his eyes and straightened up.

“Hi,”

Keith turned to his left and smiled, Shiro was standing there sheepishly, wearing an olive green parka jacket that fell a few inches above his knees with a faux fur brown hood, he wore black jeans that were hastily stuffed his Timbs, he looked just as handsome as yesterday.

“Hi,” Keith replied softly.

**Author's Note:**

> Who loved it? Cause I loved it! :D
> 
> Comments are welcome, so are Kudos, and bookmarks but please tell me if I made any mistakes so I can fix them :D
> 
> ALSO, a side note, for those are going to donate to hurricane victims, don't YOU DARE THINK ABOUT DONATING TO RED CROSS, THAT SHIT AINT REAL! THEY TAKE ALL THE MONEY AND TREAT VICTIMS LIKE SHIT!


End file.
